The Villainous Director Is Raising a Child!

"Junhyeok!!!! Why'd you take so long to get here!!!"

The closer he got, the more grotesque he turned out to be.

Long flowing hair, ash-grey — that much was ordinary. But the cumbersome toga bundled around his entire body, like something dredged up out of ancient Rome, was a spectacle.

And to top it all, both arms poking out of those fluttering toga sleeves dripped with luxury watches worth hundreds of millions of won and every kind of gaudy accessory, dangling and glittering — honestly enough to send your head spinning.

Just as that dazzling, hideous hybrid was about to fling itself into my arms —

"Back off!"

"……."

Ma Dohee yanked me by the arm and Kang Taemin, planting himself in front like a massive stone statue, pulled me back behind him.

Blocked by the solid wall that was Kang Taemin, the man's already enormous eyes went even rounder as he fussed.

He gave Ma Dohee and Kang Taemin a quick once-over, then turned his eyes on me and started scanning me head to toe.

And in that instant.

"Gasp!! Junhyeok! What is this!!!"

The man clutched his head and let out a shriek shrill enough to split the air.

He wormed his way between Ma Dohee and Kang Taemin, cat-quick, planted himself right in my face, and cried out at me, horrified.

Ah, don't tell me… he spotted the scar on my right arm? Is this guy an Awakened too?

Just as I was tensing up, watching him carefully —

But what he said next blew right past everything I'd been bracing for.

"No no no, Junhyeok! What are you wearing!!! Why are you dressed in rags!"

He jabbed a finger at my clothes and rattled off prices like machine-gun fire.

"Unbranded off-the-rack shirt, 180,000 won! Bargain-mall pants, 80,000! Shoes 200,000 tops! Add it all up and it barely comes to a few hundred thousand won! Where's my Junhyeok who used to drape himself in tens of millions of won from head to toe!!"

At his ridiculous eye — pricing every item on me down to the last won on the spot — I couldn't help a strange flicker of inward admiration.

Is he in the fashion business or something?

The man squeezed out forced tears and whined melodramatically, as if his last breath were leaving him.

"You said secret auditor this, secret auditor that, and now you've gone completely bust! Fell flat on your face and went broke, is what it is! Boo-hoo-hoo, my poor, poor friend!"

I had no idea who he was, but honestly, running into one of the old Chae Junhyeok's acquaintances was actually easier to deal with, from where I stood.

All I had to do was act like the arrogant delinquent.

I scowled hard, on purpose, and roughly batted his hand away.

"Cut the nonsense. Who do you take me for?"

"Then what are these rags?!"

I pulled the Mana Pistol out of my inner pocket and thrust it forward, making sure he saw.

Sure enough, the man recognized the artifact's value in a heartbeat; his mouth dropped open in a theatrical gape.

"T-t-that's a Mana Pistol?! That thing costs a fortune!"

The instant he greedily reached for it, I whipped the pistol back out of reach.

Wearing Chae Junhyeok's signature arrogant, smug smile, I let out a scornful snort.

"My interests just shifted to things way pricier and more important than scraps of cloth or watches."

"Ah! No wonder!!!!"

Unable to tear his eyes off the Mana Pistol, the man clapped his hands together and let out a whoop.

"Of course you weren't going to start living plainly! You just started dumping money into bigger stuff, huh? That's the Chae Junhyeok scale I know — never changes!"

The man nodded with deep satisfaction, then jutted out his lower lip and started grumbling all over again.

"But seriously — why'd it take you so long! It's been months since you last showed your face here! And your face kept coming up on the news — do you even know how shocked I was? I couldn't reach you either!"

But like the old obnoxious Chae Junhyeok would have, I coolly and completely ignored his loud fussing and worry.

"Anyway — how did you know I was in the club?"

The man let out a scoffing puff of breath.

"Wow, that stings. I'm the owner of this club — you think I wouldn't know who's stepped into my 'space'?"

Club owner?

My space?

Don't tell me… he's a space-ability Awakened?

A space-ability Awakened — one of the rarest kinds — capable of creating an independent subspace of their own and manipulating its internal laws at will.

But… a single Awakened, having conjured up an entire underground world this vast and intricate?

At this scale and level of detail, this had to be A-rank or S-rank at minimum.

Inwardly I was stunned speechless, but I kept Chae Junhyeok's trademark cocky look on my face, pretending it didn't faze me at all.

"Anyway, that grand entrance earlier — pretty shocking, huh? I set it up personally so a surprise event triggers automatically the moment you walk into the club!"

Come to think of it, the majestic triumphal march was still ringing out on all sides, drumming at my ears.

The man shrugged, preening, then lightly clapped his hands snap! toward the empty air.

Paat—!

And like that, the enormous fanfare and triumphal march cut out clean, in a single beat.

Immediately, as if flowing in to fill the void, sultry, decadent jazz-style club music began wrapping itself softly around the whole space.

"I've been dying for you to show up! Wouldn't the whole mood come alive if our Imperial Majesty came in and threw money around? Come on, let's go!"

The man tapped me on the shoulder and gave an exaggerated wink.

"You knew today was 'the day' and timed it perfectly, didn't you? There's still time before the main event, so let's crack some champagne in a VIP room!"

The day?

Main event?

The cryptic words put me on edge, but I asked what I'd been most curious about first, feigning indifference.

"By the way — Oh Taejin isn't around?"

Facing Oh Taejin with zero background info was a heavy prospect.

Please, let him not be here today.

Thankfully, the owner clicked his tongue with something like regret.

"Taejin? He came in yesterday, so I doubt he'll be around today. Oh! But if I call and tell him you're here, he'll drop everything and come running. Hold on!"

As he started to pull his device from his pocket, I hastily grabbed his arm and stopped him.

"Skip it. I'm just here to soak in the atmosphere for a minute and go, so don't call him."

At my firm refusal, the owner let his shoulders droop and started whining theatrically.

"Aww, why~! You finally show up after all this time and you're not gonna party your bones out and go? Blow some cash!"

"Skip it. I've got company today, I'm not really in the mood for that."

When I waved him off, tone flat, drawing the line, only then did the owner's gaze slide over to Ma Dohee and Kang Taemin standing beside me.

His eyes lit up with interest a moment later.

"Wait a second. Who's this pretty noona next to you? Don't tell me — girlfriend? You bringing someone around for a tour of your turf again? You used to drag people in here all the time back in the day!"

At his words, a lightbulb suddenly flashed on in my head.

This is it!

A perfect cover — one that would let me poke around asking about this place without raising suspicion, and preserve delinquent Chae Junhyeok's image on top of it.

I gave a smirk and a shrug.

"Ha… sharp of you. How'd you figure it out? Yeah, she's my girlfriend."

I stretched out an arm and pulled Ma Dohee tight against my side by the shoulder.

"D… Director?"

When the startled Ma Dohee's eyes went wide, I whispered to her quickly.

"I'm so sorry. There's a situation…! Just play along for now, please."

At my whisper, Ma Dohee flushed lightly, then meekly nodded and leaned into me, natural as anything.

I jerked my chin at the owner, back to my arrogant swagger.

"I've been busy for months, couldn't make it in. Take us around and give me and my girlfriend the proper rundown. What the club's scene is like these days, who the regulars are, that sort of thing."

At my words the owner snapped his gaudy fingers and clapped.

"After all the money our Emperor has poured into this club, of course I'll do it — say the word!"

The instant he clapped his hands once more toward the empty air —

The nothingness in front of him warped, and an enormous golden door engraved with geometric patterns slid smoothly into being.

An unmistakable manifestation of a space ability.

Inwardly I was floored by the miracle unfolding in front of me, but outwardly I held an unimpressed look, as if this were routine, and followed him through the door.

The moment I stepped through, the Colosseum I'd been peering down at from that distant terrace was suddenly right at my feet.

"You can get a proper look at the Colosseum during the event later… shall we start with the rooms?"

The owner took the lead, and the full club tour began in earnest.

Seeing the club interior actually from the floor, it was even more decadent than it had looked from above.

Stacked like a honeycomb under blood-red lighting, the VIP rooms formed a vast labyrinth of indulgence.

Beyond thin curtains, figures in gaudy gold masks were running illegal gambling operations, or leaning through hazy white smoke to whisper into each other's ears, snickering.

The bizarre, decadent air — money, pleasure, and unidentifiable acrid smoke all tangled together — turned my stomach on its own.

I wanted to hurry past this revolting space right that second, but the moment someone beyond a curtain spotted me and pointed, sticky gazes started fixing on me all at once, as if by prior arrangement.

"Ooh! The Emperor has returned!"

"Long live the Imperator!"

Everywhere I went, gold-masked figures raised their glasses and cheered.

Cold sweat trickled down my back, but I put on an arrogant smile as if used to it and gave a lazy flick of the hand.

"Ah, come to think of it."

The owner leading the way abruptly stopped and gave a sly grin.

"Junhyeok, there's a room you'd probably be pretty into. Actually, maybe your girlfriend beside you would like it even more?"

"What is it."

At my suspicious look, the owner led me on, thoroughly pleased with himself.

The pounding of the club's signature bass gradually receded, and the deeper we went, the more the wall décor grew grotesque and gaudy — enough to make you uncomfortable.

Just as an unaccountable, ominous feeling began creeping up my spine —

We arrived in front of an enormous door glowing gold, bright enough to blind you.

The owner grabbed the handle, threw a wink, and whispered.

"Just so we're clear beforehand — I did not make this room, all right? Your fans who were pining for you while you were away made it, so don't fly off the handle."

"What?"

Ignoring my word, he hummed to himself and gracefully swung the door open.

Acting and everything else forgotten, I let out a scream of pure horror.

"……what the hell is this?!"

The room inside was, in every sense, a crucible of shock and terror.

Every wall was hung with dozens of massive oil-painting portraits of Chae Junhyeok's face, mounted like sacred icons; beneath them, secretly-taken paparazzi shots and press clippings stretched out like a folding screen.

And, apparently they'd even recorded it from the hearing — my voice saying "I am the secret auditor the Bureau dispatched under strictest confidence" was reverberating softly through the space, like faint ASMR background audio.

Watching me stand there thoroughly speechless, the owner threw his arms open, proud.

"This right here is our club's hidden gem — the Emperor's Shrine!"

In this insane space where every inch my eyes touched was pasted over with my face, my mind went blank.

"How on earth — why does a hideous room like this even exist?!"

When I clutched at the back of my neck, the owner chuckled and shrugged, shameless.

"What can I do about it? You are pretty popular in this scene."

"I'm popular?"

"Handsome face, spending cash like it's water. And that bratty personality of yours where you snap at every little thing — the demand for that in this world is off the charts. You're this club's absolute idol, I'm telling you."

I couldn't get over the sheer deranged scale of Chae Junhyeok's fandom.

No wonder those sticky looks earlier in the corridor — the ones that had crawled over me like they wanted to lick me clean — hadn't felt normal!

"At first, it started with a handful of your die-hard worshippers quietly sneaking things in. One by one it piled up, and before anyone noticed, it turned into the grand unified sanctuary."

The owner cackled, one better.

"These days they've even started their own funding pool to make sure this room stays put, and they're kicking in the maintenance every month, no fail. Any time a new member joins the club, this is supposedly the number-one must-visit — first stop, no exceptions, or something like that."

I couldn't get my jaw closed — it hung open like it might come off.

Everywhere I looked — Chae Junhyeok, Chae Junhyeok, Chae Junhyeok!

Surrounded on all sides by Chae Junhyeok faces, I felt like I might be motion-sick any second.

Then, catching sight of something in one corner of the room, I recoiled in horror.

"Yeep!"

What my eyes had landed on was a huge microfiber body cushion with Chae Junhyeok's upper body printed on it, life-sized.

However many people had hugged and stroked it, the fabric was worn ragged and pilled all over.

What — why on earth is anyone hugging that thing?! No, why on earth is anyone even making it?!

Goosebumps prickled up all over me, and I was about to rub frantically at my forearms when —

"Excuse me, sir."

Ma Dohee, standing beside me, spoke up out of the blue.

Thinking she was about to lay into the owner on my behalf over this horrific room, I brightened and turned my head.

Hm?

Glancing down at her, her eyes… were somewhere far off.

Her usual smile was gone without a trace, and her pupils, breath ragged, glinted with pure greed.

"Can I buy everything on display in here?"

"What?"

"That portrait especially, and the liquor bottle with the fingerprints on it — I absolutely want to buy those. Oh, and the cushion, I'd like to actually manufacture my own version. Do you have a high-resolution design or a PSD file? I'll pay five, no, ten times the price — sell them to me."

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